Kenseth, Logano finally meet to clear air at Homestead
HOMESTEAD, Fla.—The last time Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano were in close proximity, Logano was riding Kenseth's bumper right into the Turn 1 wall at Martinsville. Logano still had championship hopes, and Kenseth was racing in his 571st consecutive race dating back to early 2000.
Three weeks later, Logano is out of the championship hunt. Kenseth's consecutive-starts streak is now at zero. Their feud, which divided NASCAR fans, drivers, and officials, has faded into the background of a championship chase and a retirement celebration. But is their fight truly over?
Perhaps. "I think everything will be fine there," Kenseth said in a story first reported by the AP. "I mean, I wish none of it had happened, obviously. There's probably certain things we'll never agree on, but I think long-term it will be fine and we'll work it out."
Kenseth-Logano I began at Kansas, when Logano knocked Kenseth out of the lead and, as it turned out, out of the Chase. Kenseth-Logano II came at Talladega, when Kenseth accused Logano of cramping him on pit road. And then the knockout blow: Kenseth-Logano III, Martinsville, when Kenseth plowed Logano into the wall. Kenseth was 10 laps down at the time while Logano was in the lead, and that breach of race etiquette was enough to convince NASCAR to sit Kenseth for two races.
Earlier on Friday, NASCAR chairman Brian Z. France allowed that while Kenseth had suffered an unfortunate stroke of fate, his retaliation was over the line. "When Kansas happened, we were very disappointed for Matt, because he got the, obviously, the real short end of that exchange," France said, "but as a NASCAR racing incident, that happens all the time."
Kenseth indicated after Martinsville that he believed he had the green light to piledrive Logano, which might be a bit of convenient rationalization, but NASCAR made it clear that retaliation will not stand. "If something is so egregiously obvious that somebody wasn't just trying to have a hard racing moment, but they're literally just trying to take somebody out, we will obviously deal with that," France said. "That is a line. We'll deal with that."
With Kenseth and Logano effectively settled, by the standings if nothing else, the question thus arises: what if the championship hunt involves blocking or spinning? How would NASCAR deal with that? "My expectation is nobody would ever block either. But they do. It doesn't take any talent to block," France said. "But contact late in the race, that's just part of it and we got to have an understanding of that and not be so surprised when that happens in a NASCAR race. That has happened in our entire history."
Regardless of how Sunday shakes out, neither Kenseth nor Logano will figure in the championship hunt. For two of the season's hottest drivers, that's more than enough punishment for any sins, real or imagined.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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